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Voices From The Readers

Which party fought to keep black people in slavery, was the favorite of the KKK, and from 1870 to 1930, used fraud, whippings, lynching, murders, intimidation and mutilations to deny black citizens their right to vote? Which party passed the Black Codes and Jim Crowe laws (legalizing racial discrimination)? What was the party of FDR and Truman (both rejected anti lynching laws and efforts to establish a permanent civil rights commission)? This is the same party of Lyndon Johnson (who called King, “that “N word” preacher”, and upon signing the “Great Society Program” said, “I’ll have these “N word” voting Democrat for the next 100 years”. This is same party of JFK (who voted against the 1957 civil rights law and opposed the 1963 King march on Washington)? Hint: This is the party of Senator Robert KKK Byrd, Governor Earnest Fritz Hollings (who hoisted the confederated flag over the SC capitol), and Ted Kennedy (who called black judicial nominees “Neanderthals”)?

Can you guess the party of Al Gore’s father (who voted against the civil rights acts of the 1960’s)? What party is against school vouchers, school prayer and takes the black vote for granted? Which party tried to thwart the nomination of Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas? What party rabidly supports abortion, which is responsible for killing more black babies than white or Hispanic ones? The answer to all these questions is the Democrat party.

Martin Luther King was a Republican. Why? Read on.

Which party was founded as the anti-slavery party and fought to free black people? To which party did President Lincoln belong (who signed the Emancipation Proclamation)? Which party: supported the 13th (abolished slavery), 14th (Negro citizenship and no states discrimination) 15th (Negro suffrage) amendments to the Constitution, and passed the civil rights act of 1866 and 1875 (granting black people protection from the “Black Codes” and prohibited racial discrimination in public places)? Which was the party of: black people prior to 1960 (including Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Booker T. Washington and Martin Luther King), the founding fathers of the NAACP, the party of Eisenhower (sent troops to Arkansas to desegregate schools, established the civil rights commission in1958 and appointed Chief Justice Earl Warren to the US Supreme Court)? These actions resulted in the passage of the 1954 Brown vs. the Board of Education decision (which ended school segregation).

Which party (by the greatest percentage) passed the civil rights acts of 1950 and the 1960’s? Which is the party of: Nixon (instituted the first Affirmative Action program of 1969, George H.W. Bush (nominated Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court), George Bush Jr. (appointed more black people to high level positions than any president in history, spent record money on job training, education and healthcare to help black people prosper, and sent the most money to Africa to fight AIDS)? The answer to all these questions is the Republican Party.

Most people don’t know these facts because our media and education system will not allow it. Why?

Read what Frances Rice has to say. She is a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel and chairman of the National Black Republican Association.

Dennis W Evans
Berlin

Delegate Off Base
On Wind Energy
Editor:

Citizens of the Lower Shore have come to expect a negative knee-jerk reaction from Delegate Mike McDermott to every progressive initiative of the O’Malley administration – even popular measures beneficial to his own constituents. As your report indicates (Jan 25), the Offshore Wind Energy Act of 2013 enjoys broad support in Annapolis, and almost certainly will be enacted.

As for Delegate McDermott – as the man says, he is entitled to his opinion, but he is not entitled to his own facts. And in this case (as with many of his windy comments) he has the facts dead wrong.

His first falsehood is the assertion that Maryland will subsidize the development of offshore wind for several years before the first turbine is even up and running. If Mr. McDermott would take time to read the bill introduced this year in Annapolis, he would learn that simply cannot happen. The only money that a wind farm developer can ever receive from ratepayers is for power that the project actually generates — that it sells to consumers. In other words, we will pay for power delivered to our homes, not for power plants built and financed by entrepreneurs.

Secondly, the cost of that energy will be much less than Delegate McDermott asserts. His reference to a “$2 per month fee on residential electric bills” is out of date. In fact, the House of Delegates in which he serves passed a bill last year – by an overwhelming majority – establishing a maximum increase of $1.50 on the average residential monthly bill. The legislation on his desk and under consideration this year carries the same price point.

Finally, nobody will be paying 25 cents per kilowatt hour for offshore wind energy. This year’s bill caps the cost at 19 cents – as did last year’s bill, which our garrulous Delegate seems not yet to have read. And while that is substantially more than the present cost of fossil fuel energy, it will represent only about 1% of our delivered total energy, minimizing the early price impact. Even the serious opponents of alternate energy concede that future costs will drop from year to year.

Senator Jim Mathias and Delegate Norm Conway support the Wind Energy Act – which will permit Maryland to join the “green” 21st century — will create hundreds of local jobs, and encourage the development of clean technologies to meet our future energy needs. Mr. McDermott would rather have us continue to promote and use dirty fuel, increasing pollution and contributing to global climate change.

3 thoughts on “Voices From The Readers”

No mention of the $10 million “Offshore Wind Developement Fund” mentioned in Mr Pretl’s letter. This fund is described as “designed to provide incentives and support for small businesses entering into the newly created industry.” Sure sounds like developement is to be subsidized. Whether or not this occurs before or after the first turbine is up and running is irrelevant.